The present invention relates to an applicator machine for attaching an electrical terminal to a wire and more particularly to a wire guide carried by the ram of the machine for guiding a wire into position for crimping a single sided flag terminal thereto.
Terminal applicator machines are widely used in the industry to attach electrical terminals to conductors. These terminal applicators are typically secured in a press which supplies the power and motion that operates the applicator. The applicator may be used manually where an operator inserts an already prepared wire end into the crimping area between a crimping tool and an anvil containing a terminal and holds the wire in place while activating the press to complete the termination. Alternatively, the terminal applicator and associated press may be attached to a host machine, such as a lead maker, where the prepared wire end is automatically presented to the applicator tooling for termination. These terminal applicators typically feed a strip of terminals along a guide rail into a workstation where one of the terminals is positioned over an anvil. The wire, its end having been previously stripped of insulation, is positioned in the workstation and the apparatus is activated to cause crimping tools to engage and crimp the tabs of the terminal onto the end of the wire.
The terminal typically has four tabs, two of which are on each side of the barrel. The tabs are rolled over onto the insulation and the conductor during the crimping process. Prior to crimping, the tabs on opposite sides form a lead in to help guide the wire from a target area within which the wire is placed, into crimping position in the barrel of the terminal. Additionally, the crimping tooling usually has a V-shaped lead in that helps to guide the wire as well. The target area within which the wire must be placed is relatively large, and the host machine typically can easily position the wire within this area.
However, certain types of terminals, known as flag terminals, are configured with the tabs to be crimped on only one side of the terminal. See, for example, FIGS. 3 and 4 where there is shown a flag terminal 2 having a receptacle contact 4, a barrel 6, an insulation tab 8 and a conductor tab 10. The outer tip of the conductor tab 10 extends directly over a portion of the barrel 6, as viewed in FIG. 3, which directly interferes with normal seating of the conductor within the barrel 6 unless the conductor is positioned within a very small target zone. This configuration requires that the crimping tooling be relieved on the side opposite the tabs, eliminating the normal V-shaped lead in. See FIG. 2A for a schematic representation of prior art crimping tooling of this type.
When positioning a wire with respect to the terminal 2 for crimping, it must be positioned within a well defined target zone 16 which falls between the two phantom lines 18 and 20, in FIG. 2A. The phantom line 18 defines the upper most position from which the wire can be guided into the barrel 6, the tabs 8 and 10 define the left most position, while the phantom line 20 defines the right most position. An insulation crimping tool 26 includes a lead in angled surface 28 that extends on both sides of a crimping nest 30. Similarly, a conductor crimping tool 34 includes a lead in angled surface 36 that extends on both sides of a conductor crimping nest 38. During the downward crimping stroke of the ram these angled surfaces 28 and 36 will engage and guide the tips of the tabs 8 and 10 toward and into the nests 30 and 38.
Note that, in the event that the wire is inadvertently positioned above the phantom line 18, the wire will enter the nests 30 and 38 before the tips of the tabs, resulting in a failed crimp. The net result of this over extending tip 10 and the lack of lead in on the right most side of the tooling is that the area of the target zone 16, the area within which the conductor must be placed in order for the crimping tooling to pick it up and center it in the barrel 6, is substantially reduced from what it would be with conventional terminals having straight tabs on opposite sides of the terminal. This reduced target area is a serious detriment in an automated environment where the host machine must consistently and accurately position the conductor within that reduced target area. Achieving this accuracy substantially increases the cost of the host machine and can reduce its cycle time, thereby reducing its efficiency.
What is needed is a terminal applicator machine having a simple and inexpensive wire guide that permits a substantially larger target area while assuring that the wire is properly guided into the barrel during the crimping cycle.
A terminal applicator is provided for attaching an electrical flag terminal to a conductor. The flag terminal is of the type having a crimping tab extending from only a single side thereof. The terminal applicator includes a frame and an anvil supported by the frame and arranged to receive a flag terminal. A ram, having crimping tooling attached thereto, is in sliding engagement with the frame and is arranged to undergo reciprocating motion carrying the crimping tooling along a first axis in a crimping direction into crimping engagement with the flag terminal on the anvil and in an opposite return direction away from the anvil. The crimping tooling has a crimping nest for forming the crimping tab in cooperation with the anvil. The first axis extends at least from the crimping nest to the anvil. The crimping tooling includes a lead in surface that is adjacent the crimping nest and extends therefrom away from the first axis toward the anvil. A wire guide is attached to and carried by the ram adjacent the crimping tooling. The wire guide has a wire guiding surface on a side of the first axis opposite the lead in surface. The wire guiding surface is adjacent the crimping nest and extends therefrom away from the first axis toward the anvil.
An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the following drawings.